Remnants of Normalcy
by Source
Summary: After Alkali lake, Jubilee undergoes changes, and confides in Nightcrawler. . . this is my first fanfic, please read and review thanks
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: none of these characters are mine no copyright infringement intended this disclaimer applies to all chapters in this fanfiction.**

The students were getting ready for school to begin after the two-day "rest break" to have the mansion cleaned up. The students didn't want any more time off, they just wanted to forget Alkali Lake and get back to their lives; to maintain what remnants of normalcy they still had. Jubilee felt her hands charging in an unusual way and her body was itching all over as if static was rushing in her blood.

"Jub' what is up with you today?" Emma Frost, her roommate asked as she put on her shirt and saw Jubilee standing in front of her open drawer, clothes sloppily shoved in there giving birth to their wrinkled appearance. She rubbed her hands together as if she were trying to warm them up.

"I don't know, my powers are just—I feel, so overwhelmed and agitated like my powers are trying to escape my body"

_Jubilee, could I see you a moment in my office?_

Xavier's voice called out into the hallway.

Jubilee looked at Emma. _As soon as you finish dressing of course,_ the voice finished.

"You can't hide anything from that guy." Jubilee muttered

"Yeah, but that is what is so comforting about this place he always knows when to help you and how to help you so we don't have to go through it alone" Emma offered.

"Whatever, it sounds like the guy has a serious god-complex if he thinks he can be there for everyone. Besides no one else has to refer to their life as an 'it' –oh except maybe cancer patients and war veterans because they are either invisible or contaminated with some cellular disease that no one can cure—just like us." Jubilee said bitterly as she pulled a pair of black jeans from her pile of clothes in the corner that were less wrinkled than their companions mangled in the drawer; and combed her hair into one of her unique "Jubilation Lee original" styles. Then she changed her shirt and trudged herself to see the professor.

She entered the office and saw the professor sitting at his desk; hands laced together back erect and a loving but concerned smile on his face.

"How are you Jubilation?" he asked warmly

"You tell me." Jubilee said as her hands sputtered an irritated buzz sputtered along with a sharp pulsating bolt like lightning. She saw the hurt reaction clouded by concern painted on Xavier's face, so she softened up a little, maybe Emma was right and he was just trying to help.

"Ever since Alkali Lake I just feel so weird, you know, that place gave me the creeps, I still have nightmares about it all. It is so annoying. I just want to sleep, you know, but I don't want you to think that this is some scam to get out of class."

Xavier smiled.

"I don't believe you are trying to get out of class, you are one of the top students

in your class; but even if you were don't you think I'd know?" Xavier asked.

_He did have a point_, she realized. _It is all his fault that I'm in this mess, him and his stupid cerebro machine_ she thought, wanting to blame somebody for all this then realizing that he probably heard her, she felt embarrassed and looked away.

"Tell me more of these dreams, or would you mind if I looked at them myself?" he asked as if he didn't hear her thought at all.

"You mean like read my mind?"

"Yes."

Jubilee hesitated, and then agreed to let him read her mind. She reclined on the near by sofa and saw Xavier coming up behind her in his chair.

"This won't hurt at all Miss Lee, don't worry, just try and relax." Xavier's voice was calm and soothing as he closed his eyes and placed each of his hands on each side of her head.

_The room is dark, there are faint footsteps, suddenly there are shots and loud voices, a scream a loud piercing scream, Siryn--- who needs an alarm with a house guest like that—Jubilee remembered thinking_ ._Then someone knocked down her door, a man in a mask carrying a gun. They shot at her, she threw the pellets back at one soldier but another came up behind her and put her in a dark bag. All she remembered was being dragged, some place, the shooting and screaming getting fainter all the way. The next thing she knew she was being thrust into a van and she hit her head on something hard._

Xavier stopped.

"What do you see?" Jubilee asked

Wolverine sat in his official new room smoking a cigar. All he could think about was Jean, he kept reliving the whole moment in his head, like a bad scene from a movie.

"Logan, are you all right?" Ororo asked as she peeked in his room. Logan didn't respond verbally back to her, lost in the torment of the old memory and it was clearly illustrated upon his face.

Bobby and Rogue were giving Nightcrawler the tour of the mansion.

"And down there is cerebro and down that way is the danger room" Rogue instructed.

"Cerebro? I have heard that word before. At that place with the snow, Miss Monroe asked me to take her inside. Then everything fell down" Kurt said, his German accent slathered over every syllable of his words. His tone was solemn as he recounted the event much like when he was explaining the assassination attempt on the president to Jean and storm at the church in Boston. Rogue and Bobby looked at each other as the awkward silence clot their vocal chords.

"Why don't we show you to your room?" Bobby said clearing his throat to kill the silence. They proceeded to the elevators.

"Will I be able to go back to Boston to retrieve my things?" Kurt asked as he stroked his tail and looked down the various hallways and encoding them into his photographic memory.

"What did you see, Professor?" Jubilee demanded.

The Professor smiled and rolled over to his desk.

"You are under a great deal of stress; I'm recommending you relax for a couple of more days. In addition, if you like you may see me for counseling twice a week. Perhaps sit down with a good book or--"

"Professor, look at me! I don't want a book and a couple days cooped up in my dorm. I am buzzing like nobody's business what I want is to know what is wrong with me!" Jubilee interrupted. She charged her hands, again they sounded almost like static from the t v.

Professor Xavier sighed as he readjusted himself in his chair. "It appears that this traumatic event triggered something in your mutation and you are evolving—or growing, your powers are becoming more powerful and that can be a scary and bizarre time for a mutant. That is why you need to rest stay stationery, we don't know what your powers may do. When Scott--"

"As if being a mutant alone isn't 'bizarre' enough" Jubilee interrupted scoffingly as she left upstairs and to her class.

Ororo just left Logan's room and was on her way to her classroom as the bell rang and school began; the halls were crowded with students. She bumped into the Jubilee in the hallway. She was already steaming after already hearing the news of her getting weirder and bumping into Storm just made it worse.

"Sorry I bumped into you Jubilee," She said with a slight smile

"Yes, I am sure you are everyone is—everyone is sorry about everything!" She said as she raised her hands up in anger as if she was strangling someone over her head and pulled them down just as angry and just as she did, she sent a 9-volt charge full blast at Storm. She quickly beckoned a bolt of lightning that cracked through the mansion to protect herself.

"Jubilee, are you alright?" Storm asked as her eyes dissolved from their cloudy film from bringing on the lighting. The students passing by were now staring at the two of them. Jubilee stared in horror at her hands like there was an oozing contaminant dripping on them and she felt the further death of her humanity creeping in on her. She darted in the opposite direction of her class to the elevator, bumping people along the way, completely distraught.

Rogue and Bobby showed Nightcrawler his room.

"You see, they already sent for your things" Bobby said with a smile as he saw Nightcrawler's face light up with a shocked happiness seeing all his things from the church all organized just the way they were at the church.

"I just hope they got everything." Rogue said the same happiness beamed in her voice, "this is your new home now,"

"We gotta get to class, but uh, you know just make yourself comfortable" Bobby said as he tugged lightly on Rogue's hand, and they left up the stairs. Night crawler walked into his new room.

"Das ist mein Zimmer" Nightcrawler whispered to himself as he looked around. He touched the crucifix and looked at his circus posters. "Das ist mein Zimmer" he repeated.

Wolverine stuck out his claws and laced his other hand between them as he stared at the picture of Jean.

"Why? Why wouldn't you let me help you?" he asked.

He heard Jean's last words resonate in his mind, an echo fading to nothing.

Her voice sounded so soft like it was fading, fading away from him forever, like the very possibility of love fading away, running away, choosing another man, it never chose him. Jean, Rogue, they had made him soft. . . .

On the other hand, did they make him more human--was it possible that he was running from the human inside himself because he always thought, felt like an animal that he didn't know there was a man inside this mutant shell of his with the claws and ghost past?

Stryker's voice struck him like a mallet. He closed his claws and put Jean's picture back in his drawer. Even though he had chosen to stay with the X-men and stop chasing his questions, he still had to overcome the feeling that he was some . . . mistake, a glitch in the gene pool of humanity.

Jubilee kept running as far as she could until she got to an unknown quarter of the building—a part of it she had never been in—where the adults slept, all the professors.

She turned a corner and she saw Nightcrawler in his room praying on his Rosary_. It's him, that new mutant that was on the news for attempting to assassinate the president_—she thought as she watched his three-fingered hand gently rub the beads. Then he looked up as if he sensed her presence staring at him, his yellow-chrome eyes so curious, as he cocked his head to the side almost like a playful puppy would. It was then she realized her hands were charging and it had captivated his attention. She tried with all her power to stop them. The she looked back up and saw he was gone; there was just a fog of bluish black smoke. Then she heard a bamf and smelled brimstone. She turned around and saw him standing there smiling.

"Hello." He said his smile made his features look brighter and more human—so gentle not so demonic and dark. That smell she remembered being in that dark cellar like place and those it yellow eyes staring at her and the other frightened kids, almost like they were floating in the air without a body. _He's the one who saved us_ she thought, then she felt her hands charging and sharp pulses where going up and down her arms and around her fingers—she thought of what happened with Storm, she couldn't risk hurting another person . . . .

She ran. She ran right past him and onto the elevator. Once she got inside, she felt the lightning surge out of her again, this time it hurt her. The charges bounced of the walls and back into her vigorously. Now she knew how her victims felt. After a few moments she fell to the ground and the elevator sat there steaming, she let out a cry as she dropped. It reached Night crawler's ears; he ran to the elevator door and stared at it. _Could he do it again he wondered. Could he bamf without seeing where he was going and not get hurt_? Then he thought Jubilee how she could be seriously hurt and he might have been the only one to save her . . . .

He had to risk it.

"Our Father who art in Heaven . .. bamf hallowed be thy name--" he looked up and saw that he was safely in the elevator. He took a sigh of relief.

"Danken Sie Gott," he said. He then knelt down to Jubilee, gently stroked her cheek.

She moaned a little as she turned her head and opened her eyes to slits, she saw a foggy Nightcrawler peering over her.

"Wach auf" he said gently, "Wake up"

She soon shot up and scooted away from him. He stood up and faced her. He held up his hands in surrender.

"I won't hurt you," he said

"I know but, I don't think I can promise the same thing." She said, her hands were buzzing again. He looked confused and a little afraid.

"I can't make it stop," she said looking at her hands sadly then she looked at him.

"I don't want to hurt you." She said realizing her first remark sounded like a threat.

Nightcrawler's face dropped to concern. She passed out again. He ran to catch her.

The place was abuzz with the news about Jubilee. The other mutants wondered why they weren't feeling as strange as she did or why their powers weren't evolving. Would it affect them later or was the whole thing less traumatic for them than for her? But, if they underwent the same situation how could the trauma affect them less?


	2. Chapter 2

Nightcrawler bamfed Jubilee to the top main floor. He was getting good at this visualizing bamf it made him smile on the inside because he knew his faith was growing.

When they reached the ground, Jubilee woke up looked around and saw that he had gotten there in one piece. She pushed herself away and looked at him.

"Are you out of your mind?" Jubilee asked accusingly, "I could have hurt you in the middle of . . .one of your things and then where would we be? Dead in the middle of time or in some ceiling in the mansion and the only way they'd find us is through one of the professor's psychic visions or until our bodies started to stink?" Jubilee said angrily she shooed him away but her hands pulsated and sent a bolt headed toward him but he bamfed to the other side of her and the bolt hit the wall and split and cracked the wall.

"See?" she said turning a 180 to face him, tears glistening in her eyes; she ran up stairs and locked herself in her dorm.

"Ich werde ein Gebet fr sie sagen" Nightcrawler said as he watched her bolt upstairs. Soon he heard footsteps of students and talking. They were going to lunch.

Bamf

"I am so gonna fail that Physics exam" Siryn whined to her best friend Kitty Pryde.

"I told you to take Psych but you didn't listen." Kitty said as they turned into the main hall and entered the dining hall. They opened their sack lunches and continued to talk.

Wolverine went out to the garage and saw Cyclops sitting in his car his head propped up by the steering wheel. _He looks horrible _thought Wolverine. Originally, he came out here to steal his car to go for a drive but he reconsidered.


	3. Chapter 3

The last school bell sounded and the students retired to their dorms to do their homework or to the den to play foosball or watch television. Jubilee jetted to the elevators she didn't want to have to deal with the questions from Emma; she knew the whole school knew about her little incident with Storm and how she wasn't in any of her classes. She could only think of one place to go. . . .

She exited the elevator walked down the hall and turned into Nightcrawler's room, the door was open; she just stood in the doorway. He was reading one of his pirate adventure novels; his face wore a riveted expression on his face. She debated whether she would knock or not, he did have a way of invoking curiosity in a person, and it wasn't just the blue skin, tail and yellow eyes.

She knocked. He looked up and then put a bookmark in his book and placed it on his bed.

"Can I talk to you?" Jubilee asked

"Ja," he said as he got up and pulled up a chair.

She stood in the door way as if she were frozen.

"You can come in, I don't bite" Nightcrawler said as he sat back down on his bed.

Jubilee slowly entered his room.

"I don't want to hurt you," Jubilee said as she stood against the wall by the door.

"You aren't going to hurt me, but if you want to stand there it's just fine with me." Nightcrawler said as his tail, curled along the side of his leg, began to tap against the bed.

"What were you reading when I came in?"

"Oh, _Treasure Island_, I love pirate stories—something about going out on the sea for days on end is so fascinating no?" Nightcrawler said smiling

"I am more of a mystery novels person"

"You don't know what you're missing" Nightcrawler said as he tapped the book, smiling.

"I remember you from the cellar at Alkali Lake, you saved us"

Nightcrawler bowed his head humbly.

"I also remember that Artie got sick after, you did one of your smoke screen disappearing acts, what do you call that any way?"

"Teleporting is what Storm called it. But in the Munich Circus they called it some thing like you did"

"You were in a circus!" her tone sounded more hurt by the idea of a mutant being in a circus than curious. "By choice?"

"Ja, I was raised in the Circus; we traveled all over Germany and Europe. I was known as the Incredible Nightcrawler!" he said with pride.

"You liked being in the circus?" Jubilee forced curiosity

"It was all I knew" Nightcrawler said solemnly

"You didn't find it humiliating that they were all laughing at you?"

"They weren't laughing _at me_. Not really, it was all an act, they were impressed by what I could do, the disappearing act like you said. To them I was just a man in blue make-up doing magic tricks. I guess in a way I was almost--"

"Normal" Jubilee finished, she felt her bitterness rise and her hands started pulsating. She raised them up and stared at them charge and charge, her eyes glared as she looked intently at her hands

"How did they react when they found out you were a mutant?"

Nightcrawler's face dropped into a grave seriousness

"Ein Dämon is what they called me," he muttered, "They would stare and run and--" He faded off into silence, "Hatred and fear can do strange things to people," he said as if remembering the riots and the screaming.

Jubilee saw his face drop with hurt and pity, not anger. She was surprised if it had been her, she'd have chosen anger.

"Doesn't it make you angry?"

Nightcrawler looked up, and straight into her eyes, "No." he said simply

"They called you names; they treated you like an animal! Why doesn't that make you angry! Why!" Jubilee demanded, remembering how Stryker put them in that electric- wired cage as if they were animals, using the very source of her power to imprison her symbolically telling her what humanity thought of her and "her kind". Her hands charged again. Nightcrawler heard the hurt in her voice.

"Because I would have been just like them," Nightcrawler said, Jubilee's features softened, "I would have been what they feared. I would have became, what they saw me as and that wasn't who I was. Being in the circus taught me that people see only what they want to see, all they see is 'the act'." He said. "The Incredible Nightcrawler! When the crowds leave and the tents are pulled down the act is over and you have to be yourself, who you are inside" he said patting he chest.

"And who are you inside?" She asked.

"I am Kurt Wagner." He replied. Jubilee smiled. She looked down and shuffled her feet. There was a long silence.

"What is your name?" Kurt asked

"Jubilee"

"Is that who you are on the inside or just an act?" he asked.

Still confused by all this she looked at he buzzing hands and then at Nightcrawler.

"It was nice talking to you, I had better go or I'll be late for dinner." She said as she quickly left for the elevator. Nightcrawler watched with concerned eyes as she left. He heard her hurried footsteps down the hall.

Everyone gathered in the dining hall for dinner. At the head of the table sat the Professor, on end sat Cyclops, back in his Boy Scout troop leader demeanor. Storm sat between Siryn and Artie who never seemed to get along. Artie stuck his tongue out at her she took a breath, threatening to yelp at him. Storm covered her mouth.

"Don't you two start." She said looking at Siryn's guilty eyes then at Artie who sank down in his seat.

"She started it," Artie muttered

"Hey I said cool it" Storm said in a maternal tone.

Jones passed the rice to Emma who looked around.

"Has anyone seen Jubilee?" she asked, "she wasn't in the room after school, I got all her homework; she wasn't in any of her classes"

"I recommended she take some time off, she had been feeling a bit under the weather"

"She's probably hiding out somewhere in the mansion to be alone" Rogue said.

"Yeah" Bobby agreed, taking the peas from Rogue and scooping some on his plate.

"Normal" Jubilee chided herself mockingly; she felt her bitterness rise and her hands started charging. She raised them up and stared at them. They charged and charged, uncontrollably, her eyes glared as she looked intently at her hands, like they were contaminated from some disease she couldn't cure herself from. She remembered the pictures at the mutant exhibit at the museum. That's all they would ever see her to be. . . . some animal to entertain them, another exhibit for them to stare at, an experiment gone wrong by Mother Nature, for them to dissect on their lab tables like a frog in a biology class, isn't that what they did to Wolverine? Nobody wanted her around, then she thought of Kurt and the hope that emanated from him, she would never be able to feel what he felt, never! She sneaked past to her room and got a bag. She couldn't stay here, she had to find a way to deal with this on her own. Alone. . . .


	4. Chapter 4

Everyone retired to his or her rooms, Scott lie on his bed just staring at the ceiling, there was no way he could sleep knowing he'd roll over and feel her empty space in the bed. Wolverine thumbed through a magazine as a cigar puffed in his mouth. Storm looked out the window. A cirrus cloud covered the moon, she blew softly and the cloud moved slowly aside, it sat there lone and isolated from the world, like a scratch in the sky—like the mutant race. They lived in their own isolated little worlds all over the planet. It was so far, if the anything ever were to happen to earth, that is where everyone would go. Evolution was apart of life—that they couldn't deny_, they just couldn't accept that they might become us._ She told her self.

_Storm!_ The Professor called telepathically. She could hear the urgency in his voice.

Wolverine, Scott and Storm sat in the Professor's office. Emma sat all in tears. Nightcrawler hid in the shadows listening to Emma tell the others that Jubilee had run off, the door was cracked and Nightcrawler could barely hear. Students whispered amongst themselves as they poked their heads out the doors. Peter Rasputin urged them all to go back to bed that there was nothing for them to worry about.

"It will be alright Emma, go on back to sleep, we'll find her," Xavier said as he patted her gently on her back.

"You promise?"

"Yes, go on, you have school in the morning you need your rest." He said comfort slathered on his words. Emma sniffed and went back to her room. Xavier rubbed the area between his nose, and exhaled.

"Are you alright, Professor?" Scott asked.

"I am fine. She couldn't have gotten far, Storm, Logan search the outside of the mansion see if you find her and talk to her.

"Professor, she is out of control, this morning she almost electrocuted me." Storm said

"That's why we've got to find her, before she hurts anyone else or hurts herself. Her powers are evolving" The Professor replied.

"I'm just saying, she might not be in any mood to talk" Storm said.

Bamf

"She'd talk to me." Kurt said his voice startled Scott and Logan. He could read it on their faces.

"Entschuldigung, I didn't mean to scare you," Kurt said.

"No offense, but what makes you think she'd talk to you?" Scott asked

"Because she already has," Xavier said.

Scott turned back to Kurt.

"She spoke to you?"

"Yes"

"Why didn't you say something at dinner?"

"I didn't see reason to"

"Kurt you go with Storm, Logan you go with Scott to drive around the neighborhood or any place you think she might go" Xavier said, as he rolled toward the door, "keep in contact at all times. Oh and be as quiet as possible, we don't want to alarm the students." He said as he went to cerebro.

"I've got my cell do you got yours?" Storm asked, Scott nodded, "Yeah, it's in my car." Scott said flatly, as he shuffled his feet.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Kurt?" She said as she and he left first to her room to pick up her cell and then out one of the side doors. Scott looked at Logan, pursed his lips and left out the door expecting him to follow which he did, making sure there was a good ten feet between them.

Storm and Kurt got outside. Kurt looked at the size of the Mansion.

"We should probably stick together, since we only have one phone." Storm said. Kurt looked at her and then nodded at the roof of the mansion.

"We could probably see more from up there," he said, looking back at Storm. She had an uneasy look on her face.

"Trust me?" He asked,

Scott and Logan got in the car. _Darn you Professor, of all people you had to pair me with Wolverine, you know I don't like him, I would have even been fine with the blue guy, anybody but Logan_. . . .Scott thought.

"So where do you think she would go?" Logan asked, breaking the silence.

"I figured we'd start by circling the neighborhood." Scott replied bluntly.

They sat up on the roof of the mansion.

"Do you see any thing yet?" Storm asked,

"No," he said, then he heard a ruffle in the trees, "Wait, there!" he pointed as he hugged her and bamfed to the sound. It was just a cat.

"Sorry, false alarm" Kurt said as he looked at Storm.

"It's all right, it might not have been."

"Do you want to go back up?"

"Uh, no I think, maybe we should walk a while; I am getting a little woozy"

He forgot that his bamfing didn't always take well with others.

"Do you want to sit down for a while?" he offered.

"No, I'll be fine just walking" She said.

They walked around the mansion calling out her name. Then, Storm stopped.

"I can't help but wonder why she came to you?"

"I guess she just needed some one to talk to. I think she is starting to realize that she cannot exactly fit in as normal any more, that she is different. She is scared and alone. We've all been there."

"But why didn't she just talk to the Professor?"

Kurt shrugged, "Maybe she thought I would be able to relate with the transition more so than the others." He replied.

"Because of--"

"Yes," Nightcrawler said as he started to walk some more, sensing the awkwardness.

"Does it still bother you?" Storm asked, "How others treat you," she elaborated.

Kurt thought for a moment, then he nodded and turned to face her, "There are moments, when I catch myself wondering what things would be like if I looked like everyone else," Kurt admitted.

"If you could, would you change it?"

He looked into her eyes and shook his head.

"No." he said softly.

She walked closer to him.

"Good," she said softly, "Because I like you just the way you are," she said. Kurt looked at her filled with tenderness. He looked at her lips and then her eyes. She leaned in to kiss him. And, he kissed back. Their kiss was light, sweet, and perfect. They looked at each other afterwards. She could look into those eyes forever.

"Schöne Frau" he said as he stroked her hair. She leaned into the palm of his hand. Contrary to its rough appearance, it was soft and somewhat fuzzy, like a teddy bear.

Suddenly the phone rang. They snapped out of their little moment and Storm answered the phone.

"Anything?" Scott's voice asked over the phone

"No, we haven't seen her yet? You?" Storm replied.

"No, she's not in the neighborhood. Do you know if she hangs out any place, any where she might run to?"

"N-No, not that I can think of," Storm answered, "Kurt, when you spoke to her did she say anything that might give us a hint to where she might be?" Kurt shook his head no.

"Sorry Scott."

"Well, if you were a teenage girl where would you run to?" Scott asked.

Storm thought for a moment.

"I guess you can try the park, if she wanted to be alone she might have went there"

"Okay, thanks."

They hung up.

"I guess we should keep looking" Storm said as she lead the way. Kurt nodded and followed.

The Professor was still working up the courage to go inside cerebro, the last two times he used it, it led to danger, first to his health and then to the students. Should he really risk going in there again_? But what about Jubilee?_ He chided himself, _you have to Charles, you have to!_

He rolled up to it and let it examine his eye.

"Welcome, Professor" the voice said as he went inside.

Scott and Logan got out of the car and started to look for Jubilee. Logan sniffed.

"What? What is it?"

"I'm not sure," Logan said as he continued to sniff and follow his nose. Scott followed, within minutes they had reached a fountain and a park bench cut off from the rest of the park by hedges of bushes. They heard crying. They looked at each other. Logan put his fingers to his lips. As they peered their heads along side the bush. And, sure enough, there stood Jubilee her back to them, staring at the fountain. They quietly walked up.

"Jubilee?"

"Don't come any closer." She warned. Her hands buzzed.

"We just want to help you," Wolverine said.

"You came to take me back," She said through her tears.

"Xavier can help you, we all can; you won't find any answers here." Scott said calmly as they continued to walk closer. She raised her hands her anger made them charge.

"I said don't come any closer!"

They stopped."

"Jubilee, just come with us we can help you" Scott said

She was silent for a while, and just stared at the water spurting out of the fish's mouth and into the bowl of the fountain.

"I wonder what would happen if I jumped in" she said rubbing her hands,

"Would I die? Would it even affect me at all? Would it make me normal?" She asked. Sure, nothing happened when she took showers in the past, but this was different.

_You need to remain stationery; you don't know what your powers could do_. The professor's voice resonated in her head. She stepped closer to the fountain. Scott became nervous.

"Jubilee, you don't want to do this, we can help you," Logan said as calmly as possible. Ignoring their pleas, she just had to find out, had to see if it would end her misery. She stepped into the water. Nothing happened. Disappointed, she heaved out a sigh and convulsed into tears as she fell to her knees. Sensing she was safe, they gingerly approached.

"Come on, it'll be okay, we'll take you back to the school" Scott said. She sniffed and wiped her tears and went with them.

"Storm, we got'er, she was in the park, we are heading back now"

Wolverine said into the cell phone, as Scott drove as quickly and as safely back to the mansion.

Seeing this in cerebro, Professor Xavier smiled and exited the cerebro. He went back to his office, where Storm and Kurt were there to meet him.

"They've found her," Storm said

"I know." He replied, "You both may retire to your rooms I'll wait up for her"

Storm looked at Kurt. She did have a class to teach, but then again so did he.

"Are you sure?"

"I am sure, you need your rest" Storm nodded and left to her room

"Good night" she said.

"Gute Nacht," Kurt said, as he walked up to his room,

Seconds, later, Scott and Logan came in with Jubilee.

"Where are the others?" I sent them to bed. Are you alright?" Xavier said directing his last question to Jubilee. She nodded slightly.

"I'm sorry I ran off." She said softly.

"Well, you are back now and you are safe that is what is important. Why don't you all get back to bed and get some rest," he said they nodded and went to their bed quarters.

"Cyclops," She said, Cyclops turned and looked at her, "I am sorry I dripped all over your car." Scott brushed it off.

"Don't worry about it, get some sleep" Scott said

When Jubilee got to her room, Emma was pacing. She looked up as Jubilee came in,

"Jub'!" She exclaimed in a whisper and rushed in to hug her.

"Don't, I don't want to hurt you," She said.

Emma's face went serious.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again!" She scolded as she pointed her finger. Jubilee looked down; Emma put her hands on her hips.

"Do you have any idea how hard it would be to break in another roommate?"

Jubilee smiled.

"I'm glad you're back Jub'"

The next day Jubilation woke up and went to go see Nightcrawler. He was tidying up his room. She knocked on the open door. He turned around.

"Guten morgen" he greeted with a smile.

"Hi, Kurt Right?" She said,

"Yes," Kurt said with a smile, as he went and sat on his bed.

"Do you mind if I talk to you again today?" she asked.

"You can talk to me anytime you want to. I'm not going any where."

"So are you gonna become a teacher here too?"

"I don't know, maybe," he said as she went over and sat in the chair placed across from the bed a few feet away and sat down.

"So what's it like to have a tail?" She asked curiosity painted all over her voice and a glint of happiness and self-acceptance. Nightcrawler laughed as his tail swayed behind him.


End file.
